THERE are some beliefs that we are pre-wired to perform at our optimum level at a specific time of day. You’ve heard of people proclaiming that they are either a morning person or a night owl.
In the recent article published by www.cbsnews.com, a study focused on the differences of how people prioritize the time of day that they choose to rest or sleep.
Early Birds
If you are a morning person, you have no problem waking up at 4:00 in the morning to bask in precious alone time when nobody else is up. When everyone else is just getting up and yawning and grouchy, you’re already all perky, fully made-up, and ready to take on the day with a grand smile.
According to a recent study made by researchers at the University of Barcelona in Spain, morning people tend to be more persistent and more resistant to fatigue, frustration and difficulties.
They have a lower level of anxiety and lower rates of depression. As the energy level is up at an early time, early birds may find the late afternoons and early evenings their relaxation time. This is where they wind down and get ready to call it a day.
By the late evening, early birds may already experience fatigue and the desperate need for bed. Rather than being misconstrued as killjoys or boring people, early birds can benefit from choosing events that would make them shine like early morning fun runs or nature trips that start at 5 in the morning.
Night Owls
If you are a night owl, your battery seems to start only during midday but has the capacity to last until the wee hours of the morning. Though the endurance becomes lesser with age, night owls find their most productive at the latter part of the day or late in the evening.
If 4 a.m. is the basking in alone time of the early birds, 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. seems to be the peak hours of the night owls. Although said to be creative in nature, night owls have the tendency to find it hard to stay in a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job.
Night owls also tend to be more extravagant, temperamental, impulsive, and may suffer from insomnia and antisocial tendencies.
Since the normal body clock gears towards sleeping when the world is dark and towards getting up during the day, night owls have to learn to channel their productivity at a time that will not make them sleep through the opportunities presented by the mornings.
Whether night owls or early birds, it cannot be denied that with the right frame of mind and enough determination, we can train our minds and bodies to perform at its peak at the right time.
Whatever it is that works for you, the important thing is to make sure that you’re not sacrificing your health, family, and career just because you have already pegged yourself as being a night owl or an early bird.